Presently across the nation, there are frequent high speed chases by police to catch a perpetrator or suspected perpetrator of a crime. These high speed chases are dangerous to the police officers and even more dangerous to the unsuspecting public traveling along the roadways. There is a need to reduce the number of high speed police chases which result in numerous injuries each year to innocent members of the public, police officers and others.
Additionally, there are numerous traffic crimes each year which go unrecognized and uncontrolled because of the inability of law enforcement to monitor violations such as speeding, violation of stop signs and other violations. A more effective law enforcement in this area is needed.
Additionally, when there is an emergency in an area, it is often difficult to know which vehicles are located in the area. All of these vehicles may need assistance to protect lives and property. At present, the only way to know what vehicles may be in the area is if there are witnesses to provide such data to emergency personnel.
Further, when a crime is committed, whether it be a murder, burglary, robbery, rape or other serious crime, there is no way of ascertaining what vehicles may have been in the area at the time of the crime in the absence of an eye witness who is able and willing to identify the vehicle and report it to law enforcement. Further, it is often very expensive for law enforcement to track down such information. There is a need for a better approach in this area.
When there is a traffic accident, it is often desirable to determine what happened and who is financially responsible for the accident. At present, this is often a very time consuming and expensive procedure often times involving litigation, including discovery in the form of depositions and other discovery, and sometimes a court trial.
In recent years, the United States Department of Defense developed a global positioning system officially known as NAVSTAR-GPS and usually referred to as GPS. GPS utilizes a constellation of approximately twenty four to thirty two medium earth orbit satellites that transmit precise microwave signals. This enables GPS receivers to determine the location of the GPS receiver at any particular time.